Some media corporations, notably ESPN and Conde Nast, are cancelling their Christmasholiday end-of-year parties gatherings because of the down economy. Life is dishing out a lot of lemons this time of year, but at least one publisher is making lemonade.

And by “making lemonade,” I mean “being a demeaning a-hole to his employees.”

The aforementioned demeaning a-hole is Dean Lehman, editor and president of the Longmont Times-Call in Colorado. There’s going to be a Christmas party in honor of the paper’s publisher, his father Ed Lehman, and Dean has invited the paper’s employees. To work the event. As valets.

According to Westword.com, the employees will earn their regularly hourly rates. For a suburban daily in Colorado, that’s probably less than an actual valet makes.

But what the employees — well, at least the two suckers who’ve accepted the offer so far — lose financially, they’ll more than make up for with experience. The experience of knowing your boss doesn’t think enough of you to invite you to a party, or to even pay you to serve wine and bacon-wrapped scallops inside the party.